Civilization V Announced For This Fall 326
sopssa writes "2K Games announced today that they will be releasing Civilization V in the fall. For the first time in the series, the square tiles will be changed to hexes, which 2K Games says provides 'deeper strategy' and 'more realistic gameplay.' Civilization V will also include a new graphics engine, new combat system including ranged bombardment, multiplayer and good support for the modding community. 'Each new version of Civilization presents exciting challenges for our team. Thankfully, ideas on how to bring new and fun experiences to Civ players never seem to stop flowing. From fully animated leaders and realistic landscapes, new combat tactics, expanded diplomacy and shared mods, we're excited for players to see the new vision our team at Firaxis has brought to the series,' Sid Meier said. In addition to Civilization V, the Facebook-based Civilization Network will also be released during 2010."
Mac (Score:5, Insightful)
Please, please, follow the example of Blizzard and release a Mac version at the same time, or even on the same media. I don't want to wait a year or more for the Mac version to come out!
Brings back memories... (Score:5, Insightful)
It was 1995 and I was in the computer lab playing Civ II. I was just starting to get the hang of it when my wife-to-be popped in to see if I wanted to go down to the Commons for lunch. I wasn't hungry, so I passed. I played myself into a corner, and decided to start a new game. Just as it was getting rolling, my girlfriend popped in again and asked if I wanted to go to dinner.
I looked in amazement at the game in front of me and realized that it had eaten 6 hours of my life without my realizing it.
I had never before enjoyed a computer game as much, and have likewise never since.
Re:Mac (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Mac (Score:2, Insightful)
Moddability = Success (Score:5, Insightful)
Before you mod me down; I know, I mod for Civilization 4.t [civfanatics.com]
New Engine it seems (Score:3, Insightful)
A new engine concerns me... a bit. Although my favorite game in the series is Civ4, it did have some growing pains with the new 3D engine. Hex is a welcome addition if used properly, and who knows what other tweaks they have in store.
One feature I'd love is (and maybe it exists) being able to have someone host the game, and then call in when your ready to make your turn. Basically a dedicated server you can come and go (password protected or something like that)
Bad news for my sleeping patterns and forgoing having any sort of life this fall...
Re:To Firaxis (Score:3, Insightful)
Hexes will be hard (Score:5, Insightful)
And is it just me, or did the fact that the old city-radius shape didn't tile perfectly actually add another layer of strategy to the game? Did you want to place your cities close together to maximize usage the tiles within your territory but forcing cities to compete with each other over resources, or space your cities out so that each city got as many resources as possible even though that would mean some areas in between wouldn't be exploited at all?
With the hex-based tiles it should be possible to perfectly tile your cities so that all tiles are being exploited but none are being overlapped, unless they decide to do something really strange with the radius shape. (Possible conflicts with unbuildable terrain aside of course.)
Re:Moddability = Success (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:New Engine it seems (Score:4, Insightful)
CIV4 had play by email, which is better than a dedicated server (in this one way anyway) since no machine had to stay up all the time.
Don't forget the fun this time! (Score:5, Insightful)
I have loved many of the old versions of Civ, spending far too many hours playing them. Heck, learning how to hack the original Civ was a siginifant contributing factoring to me choosing IT over business.
All that being said, the last version turned into the green eco-facist game from hell. Any game that extended too long became one giant environmental nag session. Didn't matter how 'green' you were, someone else was polluting and everything quickly turned to waste with reasonable way to get restore things.
I'm not opposed to the pollution bit to some level, it's always been a part of the game, but it should never /become/ the game. The bottom line was that the fun got stripped away, because someone took their green preaching too far! The game wasn't fun to play, and I simply stopped playing.
Re:Mac (Score:3, Insightful)
Right, so if I just run Windows full time, problem solved! Wait a minute...
Re:What I want in it (Score:5, Insightful)
I've got to say, my favorite of the Civ combat systems is still in Call To Power ("The Civ Game that Never Was"). Actually, that was my favorite of the games in a lot of ways... I've never really understood why no one else liked it. Multi-unit combat, ranged units affecting what happened between the non-ranged units, and good use of flying units.
Re:Notebooks (Score:4, Insightful)
Game X didn't have DRM, so it's fairly safe to assume the same for Game X+1 even though they're being developed by different companies, and X+1 is being developed by a company owned by EA, whose DRM is notorious in the gaming world.
Re:Moddability = Success (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:What I want in it (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:More realistic? (Score:3, Insightful)
It's impossible to cover a sphere with hexes. Try it; I spent hours back in 8th grade trying to prove the topologists wrong. Not as many hours as I spent trying to trisect an angle with a compass and straightedge, though.
The benefit of hexes on a map is that moving to any adjacent hex is the SAME distance. On a square grid, four adjacent squares are at a distance of 1 unit, and four at a distance of Sqrt(2) units. That's why on a square map, you could travel somewhere moving diagonally up half the way, diagonally down the second half, and it would take no longer than moving directly toward the target. Hexes don't have that problem, which is why they're considered more realistic.
Civ, though, was using an offset-square map, which is no different than a hex map, so I think it only amounts to a different look plus a marketing spiel.
Re:To Firaxis (Score:3, Insightful)
Colors didn't look too good on an old-fashioned CRT either. Still one of the greatest games ever made, though.
Re:Moddability = Success (Score:4, Insightful)
Civ IV got a console port, was called Civilization Revolution [wikipedia.org]. Mind you, it was beyond dumbed down. Graphics have nothing to do with the port of strategy games like Civilization to a console, it's more of an audience problem. It has more than two buttons to press, it doesn't have shiny ultra realistic 3D graphics and it's ... 'complex'.
PC gamers really go out of their way to try to make a bad name for themselves. If they're not being elitists about their choice of platform, they're criticizing developers, either for not putting out a better PC version than consoles, or for not putting out a PC version. Come to think of it, they seem to spend far more time being general assholes talking about games than actually playing games. Get a hobby people!
Re:Hexes will be hard (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Brings back memories... (Score:3, Insightful)
I remember I was doing C++ in a small company back in 95 and the topic of games came up. A guy I was working next to wrote something on a piece of paper and carefully handed to me. He looked me in the eye and said in an ominous whisper, "This is the most addictive game I have ever played. Just remember, I warned you!" On the paper of course was "Civilization II". I think I deleted it off my hard drive about 6 times, and always got reinstalled. Was so distressed / relieved when the CD got too scratched to play. I discovered my limits, some things are not meant for the mind of man (or his too eager children).
And yes my daughter has Civ 3, which she prefers to Civ 4.I have Civ 4. Neither are as addictive or overwhelming as Civ II, for which I thank Sid Meier.
Re:Mac (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Mac (Score:2, Insightful)
Please sir can we have a Linux version too!!
Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Complete (Score:3, Insightful)
I've been really ambivalent about Civ IV, because of the "phone home" DRM.
I look on wikipedia [wikipedia.org], though, and find that they've had a DRM-free version available for several years now. I was an addict, and bought the DRM'd version anyway. I've resisted buying pretty much any current PC game in part because of the DRM. (My relatively recent system upgrade might play some part too... :) )
Y'know, I'm going to go reward them for the DRM-free version by buying it. And I'll be writing them as well: I'll buy Civ V if/when they release it DRM-free too.
Re:Hexes will be hard (Score:1, Insightful)
I want the fixed "city radius" to go away entirely. I want a city-state that exerts vast influence over the surrounding areas. Call To Power 2 actually did that IIRC. Another thing CTP did well was get rid of builder units and use a "public works" pool. The builder units are really just phenomenally tedious to micromanage, and automated improvement removes too much control.
CTP was also good at having future technology that went beyond the early 21st century. Underwater cities? why not! Not saying CTP was a better game, but it tried several new ideas, and many of them were actually good.
Fall 2010? Meh. (Score:5, Insightful)
Dear game and movie studio's of the northern hemisphere (and whoever else it may concern),
Please stop using seasons as indicators as to when things occur if they're not actually related to the season they happen in.
Yours Sincerely,
The Southern Hemisphere
P.S. Either that, or release Civ. 5 by May 2010